New Mexico Hatch chile ideas [split from Los Angeles board]

[The Chowhound Team split this cooking discussion from the Los Angeles board. If you're looking for a place to buy Hatch chiles in L.A. please see the original thread, here:http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...

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new mexican green chile sauce couldn't be easier to make: chop the chiles, make a thin roux with flour and oil (garlic, chopped onions, of course). add the chiles. cook briefly. you'll get some moisture out of the chiles. it won't be a thick sauce, slightly runny. warm corn tortillas in oil, warm again in chile, layer with grated cheese. top with chile. bake briefly in the oven. if you want to be completely authentic, put an over-easy egg on top of the enchiladas (i prefer before the chile, though reasonable minds disagree). if you want to be COMPLETELY authentic northern new mexican, use blue corn tortillas, but those can be tough to find around here (and don't ever bother trying to roll them ... they just fall apart).

By the way...make red the same way as FED described making green. Instead of using the chopped green chile, use red chile powder (I will only use stuff I buy in NM...it is the major ingredient responsible for the flavor, so don't just go for the off the shelf chile powder...it needs to taste good). Make the roux, then add a little bit of chicken stock and the chile powder and let it simmer. I myself love a scrambled egg breakfast burrito, with scrambled eggs, potatoes and herbs rolled inside a tortilla, and then smothered with Christmas (both red and green!)

My favorite red chile recipe includes dried Poblanos (Ancho Chiles). Break open, de-seed, flatten out on an iron skillet until you get a tiny bit of smoke (do not over heat), turn them over, same on the other side. Put in hot water to re-hydrate. After rehydrated (30 minutes) toss in a blender with a couple of cloves of garlic and a dash of chicken stock. Puree, and then strain through a sieve. This is the authentic red chile that is used on enchiladas. A good lesson, next time you go to your favorite Mexican Restaurant is to see if they use green or red chile on your cheese enchiladas. If it's green, find a new restaurant.